Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409160009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Long
In a small home here along the shore of Smith Mountain Lake, he sat in his office, where the image of Elvis Presley stared at him from a pair of pictures on the wall, and he talked with the rhythm of a cheap detective novel.
"Something was very wrong about what happened at Graceland that night," he began. As he talked, he squeezed his fingers together like he was wringing them of excess energy. His face rarely broke from a concentrated resolve.
The night in question was Aug. 16, 1977, only it was really the afternoon, when Elvis Presley died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn. Or "reportedly" died, according to Phil Aitcheson.
His theory is that Elvis didn't die, that he faked his death to protect himself and his family from death threats stemming from his work as a government agent, that rumors about his drug use were spread to support the cover-up, and that he has been living under an assumed identity in a government protection program ever since.
For proof, Aitcheson has prepared a report for the Presley Commission, an independent group of self-described "armchair detectives" formed in 1992 that has been investigating Elvis Presley's death. Aitcheson, 43, is the group's director. The report will be released at a press conference Friday at Camper's Paradise Resort in Moneta.
The complicated plot dates back to Richard Nixon, even before Nixon really, Aitcheson explained, when Elvis was appointed an "honorary" sheriff's deputy in Shelby County, Tenn. The year was 1968.
He peppered his theory with the studied phrases of his trade. "Our federal sources ... From everything we can determine ... We have reason to believe ... I'm not at liberty to say ..." And he said history will prove him right - unless Elvis himself does it first.
"In the final analysis, it has to be his decision," Aitcheson said.
The groundwork will have been laid.
The shocking truth told.
Here, according to Aitcheson, is the story:
From the beginning, when Elvis was appointed a sheriff's deputy in Shelby County, it was more than an honorary position. How else do you explain why he took a firearms test and filled out a job application as part of the process?
There also is evidence that he participated in drug stakeouts as a deputy.
From there, his interest in law enforcement intensified. In 1970, he contacted President Nixon, who named him a special agent at large for the government agency that would become the DEA. He told Nixon he wanted to help the country.
Another honorary title? Not according to Aitcheson.
"DEA doesn't hand out honorary badges. Period. It just doesn't happen."
At DEA, Elvis became a government informant who provided the agency with information on drug trafficking in the music and entertainment industry. His work helped uncover a case involving the illegal trading of airplanes to celebrities, tied to organized crime.
Dubbed Operation Fountain Pen by the FBI, Elvis' testimony led to a series of indictments issued - coincidently - the day before he died. "I rest my case. This guy was a cop through and through," Aitcheson said.
Mob threats then inspired Elvis to fake his own death to protect himself and his family. The government cooperated in the cover-up. Aitcheson pointed to Elvis' military stint, when the Army secretly stationed him at a base in New Jersey, instead of in Texas where he was supposed to be, to keep him away from the media and fans. If the government was willing to protect him in the Army, he reasoned, "Then they would certainly be willing to protect `Agent' Presley later."
Clues about the faked death are everywhere, he said.
The coroner who performed the autopsy on Elvis also wrote medical journals for the Department of Justice, linking him to the agency overseeing the conspiracy. "It puts him right smack up to his eyeballs in it," Aitcheson said.
Aitcheson said that Elvis followed the lead of his longtime manager, who he claimed faked his death to escape his native Holland and took on a new identity in America as Colonel Tom Parker.
For the funeral, a wax figure of Elvis was used, kept cool by an elaborate system of dry ice and battery-operated, sound-proof fans located in the casket. How else do explain why the body was sweating?
Corpses don't sweat, Aitcheson said. But wax will. He performed his own experiment by cooling a wax candle in the freezer and then taking it out into room temperature. Condensation formed on the candle's surface.
Also, there is the business of an unclaimed life insurance policy, Elvis' handwriting on his own death certificate and a woman who received telephone calls from him until 1986. The report will detail everything, Aitcheson promised.
It will also dispel the notion that Elvis had a drug problem. "It wasn't Elvis,'' Aitcheson said. ``It was the other guys around him." The rumors about his drug use were designed to give the public an explanation for his sudden death.
But here, Aitcheson said, the government or the media or somebody went too far. Elvis never wanted to be remembered as a druggie, he said. That's why he believes Elvis - wherever he is - wants the truth told. He wants to clear his name.
"The history of this whole thing has been all wrong," he said. "It bothers me. ... Elvis is an institution. He helped define rock 'n' roll, changed our culture and took a giant risk to help the country. He deserved better."
Initially, Aitcheson, who recently moved to Moneta from Wilmington, N.C., was not particularly interested in Elvis' death. He was a fan, partial to Vegas-era Elvis, but he wasn't a huge fan. The news of his death wasn't devastating.
But years later, he read a pair of books by Gail Brewer-Giorgio, "The Elvis Files" and "Is Elvis Alive?" that piqued his curiosity. The books also contend that Elvis faked his death.
Aitcheson, a freight trucking broker who works out of his home, formed the Presley Commission in 1992. He said the commission includes about a dozen active members, and it is listed with the North Carolina State Corporation Commission.
For Friday's press conference, he hopes to get national media attention. If he doesn't, he said he at least plans to send his report to Washington. "It will be going to the White House."
The truth will come out either way, he said.
The commission has inspected 663 government documents related to the Elvis conspiracy, he said. But it was denied access to nearly 3,000 more documents. "To me, that's crap. That's a violation of my federal rights." He said he's ready to come down on the government "like a herd of turtles."
Or maybe Elvis himself will come forward.
Aitcheson acknowledges that all of this sounds bizarre, but he stands behind his claims without shame. His hunch is that Elvis wants to clear his name. That's why there have been so many Elvis sightings.
He isn't concerned about blowing Elvis' cover. After 17 years, Elvis is probably a low priority on the mob's hit list, he said. "Nobody's looking for Elvis now. Nobody but us."
But it has to be his decision.
"We want to provide him with the opportunity come home if he wishes."
To make America safe for him again, he said.
"It's an opportunity to help a friend. I regard Elvis as a friend."
by CNB